And now with gameplay footage!
First thing's first, we're not Shadow Marshalls, we're mercenaries. It may be standard operating protocol to send a Shadow Marshall into a warzone on their own, but mercs work together. Here we get introduced to our AI partner, Damian Ivanov:
I like how they flash a picture of Ivanov and Danner posing for a photo. What a pair of PMC assholes. But hey, Danner's a silent protagonist so we've got to establish some background for him as a character, I suppose.
Ivanov is a pretty solid dude for a merc. He's not quite the greedy sociopath Benoit has already revealed himself to be. As we get to know him, we'll see there's still some sort of moral compass. Clearly there has to be some seedy background that made Ivanov fall into a mercenary outfit, but we won't find that here. Unlike Danner, though, Ivanov is Vektan, so this mission is a bit more personal for him.
The briefing screens have a lot of neat little details stuffed into them that you don't really notice on your first watch through. For example, despite being in the middle of an invasion, deep in the warzone, right where a commanding officer is, the Helghast presence is fairly light in the Hall of Justice. It isn't until the very end of the mission that their reinforcements start coming in waves and they can send in a tank, but even then it's only one. Glancing at the map here, you can see there are ISA forces currently engaged outside of the Hall of Justice--probably the very same ISA forces who have been trying but failing to rescue Admiral Grey this whole time. It's not explicitly pointed out in the briefing, but it's a nice detail. It certainly explains why everyone in the hall is just kinda bored, sitting around doing guard duty, and there's no real armour sent in to prevent your escape.
We get a neat satellite view of Pyrrhus when our unfortunately named Vektan Ambassador's clip comes on to tell us that Grey is still alive. That would mean that the river we're seeing is the Corinth, so that's a nice shout back to the first half of
Killzone 2.
When we jump back to Diortem and we get the plot MacGuffin that ties together
Mercenary and
Shadow Fall: chemical weapons.
Admiral Grey is in charge of Diortem's weapon's facility and it just so happens that they've been working on super fast-acting chemical weapons for deployment against the Helghast. Being that you're a mercenary, I love that they just gloss over this. Benoit mentions she runs the facility, you see a quick animation of a chemical payload being inserted into a missile, and the briefing moves on. The game doesn't bat an eye at the moral implications. There's no opportunity for Danner to raise his hand and say, "Uh, hold on, do we
really want to be rescuing
this particular person?"
After all, you're a silent protagonist. And being a mercenary, your silence is your complicity.
Grabbed a shot of our Vektan "Hall of Justice" here. I like to think it's a shout out to
Mad Max, what with the decay of the building and the implication that carries onto that justice system:
But it's more likely that this is a reference to DC Comics:
Considering the placement near water, the latter makes most sense. Of course the Vektans would like to think of themselves as superheroes, right?
Anyways, the game starts out in a building a few blocks from the Hall of Justice. This small area serves at a tutorial for some of the game's mechanics. It even has the HUD disabled so that the map doesn't disorientate new players--I guess? Or maybe they wanted one less area to have to render a map for? Regardless. After some stabbing and shooting and climbing, we are introduced to the best character in the game.
A box.
Well, it's who talks to us remotely while we're rummaging through the box that is most important, but still. Meet Blackjack! This guy appears everywhere. Seriously, he has saturated every inch of every active warzone with dozens of his fucking boxes. How did he do it? Who knows! Why didn't we notice them in previous Killzone games? Who cares! It's great for Danner, though, because it means we can always be spending our sweet cash on sweeter weapons. Every time you come across one of his boxes I recommend you pop one open. He has a pithy comment for just about every one. A lot of the time it's just some crack about guns and making money, but as you get further in a mission he'll start commenting directly on what Danner is doing.
Blackjack is well informed. VERY well informed. He probably has tracking devices in everything he sells to Danner. He certainly is keeping abreast of high level ISA, Helghast, and Phantom Talon officials. Every once in a while he'll comment on something that he really shouldn't know about. It isn't Danner confiding in him, no--not our silent chunk of Earthman! Blackjack just knows things. It makes for an interesting gameplay dynamic, because when you are shopping you really shut out the world. It's funny that they bother to explain it away with a cloaking device so that we can pretend the rest of the world is continuing on, but really, this is effectively a pause in gameplay. Whatever Blackjack may want us to believe, when Danner opens a box the outside world ceases to exist for a moment. It's as if we are going into Danner's inner-psyche, the outside world frozen while we explore the inner depths. Only problem is, all that's inside Danner's head are guns, explosives, and a chatty arms dealer.
The tutorial ends with a prompt to help each other up. This is kind of a bait and switch. Anyone familiar with
Killzone will recognize this as a common way to keep the player from exiting a "kill zone" and it was used often in the second and third games. It happens here, but honestly, it doesn't happen anywhere else. This is kind of a nice call back to the previous games, one of many that
Mercenary does, but it's not one that gets leaned on as a major gameplay tool. So, uh, enjoy it! We won't be seeing it again.
Also, here's the best glimpse you'll get at their awful tattoos. Awful tattoos for awful people, I guess.
Thank goodness the wingsuit transition isn't a mini on-rails vehicle segment. There's enough of those in Killzone 2 and 3 that just felt so very, very token. Halo: Reach did the same thing with the sudden space flight section--never liked that. Maybe it was an early 2010s thing? Eh. This is a turnaround on my stance on it when I first tried to LP this, so I suppose I'm just getting more crotchety with unskippable video segments.
This is a flashy transition regardless. We get a nice view of Diortem City, see how fucked up everything is, and Guerrilla Cambridge show off what the Vita can do.
After shuffling about the upper floor of the Hall of Justice with Ivanov, we make our way to the Control Room. After flushing out the office, we interrogate him:
I included this shot just because of the ridiculous amount of clipping. I'm pretty sure he's already dead Danner! Anyways, I don't capture every clip, but the officers have unique dialogue depending on their intel. This officer chokes out "I HAVE THE ORDERS FROM THE FLEET!" before having his neck snapped, netting us the "Signal from the Fleet" intel. The guy we flush out of the Command Centre shouts "THIS IS WHY WE FIGHT!!". Fittingly, his intel is the "Why We Fight" text which you can read down in the intel section below. It's some pretty clear Helghast propaganda. A lot of nice flavour text comes from the intel, so I strongly urge everyone to read through those at the end of each update.
These shots I included because we kinda glossed over them entirely in the video. Ivanov has his own Brutal Melee system! If a Helghoon gets up close to him, he'll go in for the kill:
Just a nice detail I wanted to make sure we immortalized.
I'd also be remiss if I didn't point out this bit of gameplay: security cameras. The blue arc shows you their line of sight. Get caught in that and they turn red, alerting your presence to the many nearby enemies by setting off the alarm--which in turn summons reinforcements. They can be disabled in two ways: straight up destroying them or neutralizing them with VAN-Guard tech. The former is more permanent, but if you don't have a silenced weapon, it'll give you position away. VAN-Guard tech is reliable, but if you're using the JAMR then enemies will notice something up anyways once their RADAR goes offline. Still, cash bonus for shooting them, so there's never a reason NOT to.
This is probably the single most elaborate bit of intel in the game. Guerrilla Cambridge probably wanted to show off with this first level by really giving you a lot of different choices. You get options in later levels, of course, but they really went all out with this one. Like I say, no other piece of intel is as elaborate as this one.
First you have to open up this vent.
To do this, you gotta climb up a pipe in a debris filled room and turn this: a
Killzone 2-style valve. Unfortunately, there's no SixAxis controls for the PS Vita TV, so we use the onscreen prompts (on a proper Vita, I assume it's touch screen controls).
Turning the valve makes a bunch of noise which brings a bunch of Helghoons down on you. Whatever. Kill them, toss a gas grenade in the vent, and the officer is forced out of the Command Centre. You don't want to run in while the gas is still visible, because you'll injure yourself. This makes it hard to get behind the officer, so your best bet is to tranq him, meaning you need to make sure you've purchased and equipped that particular gun. Then, and only then, can you brutally interrogate and murder him for those precious collectibles.
I miss when
Killzone was just about killing. Every time they've tried to add collectibles into the games, it feels like unnecessary gamefication. At least with
Mercenary here, this added collectible hunt makes perfect sense from an in universe perspective. Of COURSE going out of your way to collect useless trivia would be worth Danner's while, 'cause Phantom Talon Corps will pay him for it! So really, Danner being a disgusting, murderous fuckhead makes him the truest
Killzone protagonist.
In the Command Centre, you can spot Grey held in the interrogation room. What we can't see from here is the other room full of ISA soldiers and bio-engineered supervirus.
Rappelling down the side of the Hall of Justice, we're alerted by Ivanov of a crashing Helghast cruiser.
It's just a bit of background noise at the moment, but when I say to pay attention to it in the video, I'm not kidding. Spoiler alert: that's our next mission! But we'll get there when we get there.
Born on the outer colonies on a planet settled by Eastern Europeans, Blackjack was a bright child who grew up with an affinity for technology. In his younger years, he gained notoriety for launching several cyber attacks against Earth. When Earth launched its campaigns against its middle colonies, he slowly cultivated a network of contacts, going from a minor weapons dealer, to someone who traded in the most advanced military technology in the galaxy. His ultimate motive is profit. Blackjack has no concerns with selling to either side of a conflict, frequently trading with Earth, ISA, and the Helghast. He also funds several of the
Killzone universe's mercenary outfits, including Eclipse Forces, Skull Knight Enterprises, and Phantom Talon Corp. I mean, especially Phantom Talon Corp. They're the biggest, have the most money, and aren't afraid to spend it.
He's great. I love Blackjack. He's so unrepentantly in love with his job. It's just that his job is war profiteering and arms sales.
Welp.
Ivanov, like Danner, was former UCA. Unlike Danner, he was born and grew up on Vekta, rather than Earth. While in the UCA, the two formed a bond, and when it was time to cut ties, they joined Phantom Talon Corp together. Not much to say about Ivanov otherwise. Seems like a decent enough dude. He's cheery, tends to prefer a stealthier approach, but never complains when his buddy Danner goes in loud. They both have awful arm tattoos, constantly wear aviators, and have beards. Ivanov's is better thought. Ivanov's beard rocks.
Gonna jump back to the tutorial building for this. Take a look at that. Even with the HUD map disabled, this is one crowded screen. The field of view isn't fantastic either, but hey, it's a
Killzone and a handheld. The large icons are a holdover because playing the game on the handheld you'll want to use the touchscreen. I suppose the best I can say for it is that you get used to it.
Upper left hand corner always displays your current rank in the game and your online card, but most importantly, it always displays you cash. For a game that incentivizes the gameplay as much as this one, it's important to be able to see that those numbers constantly going up.
The Brutal Melee system from
Killzone 3 returns here. Melee in general was an absolute joke and terrible in the first game, rightfully abandoned in the second (resulting in much hilarity, being as it was replaced by the overpowered Rambo knife), and returned as awkward, but functional action in the third game. It is this awkward but functional mechanic that we get here. As before, meleeing someone is an instakill, however, it locks you into an animation. If you aren't aware of your surroundings, you can get shot dead while trying to stab a dude. As seen in the video, if the gameplay geometry isn't agreeing with your position, it can cause weird things to happen where you flail your knife in the air and the enemy dies regardless. I'm pretty sure I've said this before at some point, but just in case: I hate having the melee attack tied to an uninterruptible animation. I prefer the way it's done in games like
Halo, but hey, here we are.
It's functional, but awkward.
I can't speak for how effective the touchpad controls are for confirming each attack. The joystick commands work well enough. It's a nice touch where if you mess it up the enemy has the chance to counter. Doesn't get away from how awkward it is. Still, you'll see me stab a lot of dudes because it's a very effective way of taking them out.
In each mission there are six pieces of intel. Three of them come from hacking a location while another three come from interrogating an officer. Each is accompanied by a pithy remark from Blackjack. I've got three of them here for now... the other three will come with the part 2 of this update:
Signal From The Fleet
"Win or lose, seems the Higs don't mean to go home empty handed. This could have BIG impact on business - see if you can find out more."
—Blackjack
This is the first piece of intel we find in the game! It's essentially mandatory, being the intel you get from that quasi-tutorial section where Ivanov directs you to interrogate the Helghast officer. Note the reference to "hazmat teams" in this bit of intel. They've exhausted nukes and petrusite as super weapons in the previous games, so
Mercenary (and
Shadow Fall) are all about the chemical weapons.
SIGNAL FROM CRUISER AC-15 TO DIORTEM COMMAND CENTER
LIEUTENANT ORBECK, FIRST OFFICER
We are inbound to your position. Estimated arrival, five hours from the time of this transmission.
The cargo bay has been readied to take on board weapons and equipment seized from the ISA research labs in Diortem. Secure containment will be provided for biohazard materials. Note that a full inventory of all materiel will be required in advance.
High Command has ordered that we extract this cargo from the combat zone as a matter of urgency. Please have hazmat teams standing by ready to commence loading as soon as we dock.
SUPPLEMENTAL
All transmissions between the fleet and ground forces should continue to be encrypted. The latest encryption codes have been downloaded to all comms servers.
For the Emperor!
— Lieutenant Orbeck, First Officer, HGC
AC-15
Briefing #573968
"ISA should have seen this invasion coming. Visari, he is crazy like mad dog -- bite MUCH worse than his bark. "
—Blackjack
Found in the upper levels of the Hall of Justice, where we wingsuit into and where the previous intel is found. It's on a terminal attached to a massive computer bank. It's found by walking outside of a broken window near where you rappel down to the lower floors. Walk along the edge of the building and into the adjacent room and there it is.
For anyone unfamiliar with
Killzone, the Helghast and the ISA are both huge assholes. There are two bits of intel in this first mission that sort of describes this whole situation. This bit here is from the Vektan point of view.
VEKTAN MINISTRY OF INFORMATION,
BRIEFING #573968
THE HELGHAST VIEW OF HISTORY - A DANGEROUS FICTION
The Helghast sense of themselves as a nation, and their claims to Vekta, are based upon two powerful though apparently contradictory myths.
THE HELGHAST AS VICTIMS
The Helghast insist that their ancestors were the original colonists of planet Vekta, forced into exile by an oppressive Earth regime. This ignores the fact that they used their strategic position to exert a stranglehold on trade and the flow of resources throughout the Alpha Centauri system, finally declaring independence from Earth rule. Only then was force used against them. the ISA intervening to secure peace and prosperity for all colonies in the system.
Attempts at reconciliation were met by guerrilla warfare, terrorist acts claiming the lives of innocent civilians alongside ISA troops stationed on Vekta to maintain law and order. When the campaign of terror failed, those behind it chose to resettle on the mineral-rich planet of Helghan, and were allowed to do so unimpeded. Any hardships they suffered as a result were entirely self-inflicted.
THE MASTER RACE
The harsh conditions on Helghan had undeniable physical effects on the settlers. But the psychological impact was even more profound, feelings of isolation growing over successive generations to become a sense of 'othemess'.
The genius of Scolar Visari was to deine this othemess as superiority. Appointing himself Emperor following a military coup, he shaped age-old feelings of grievance into a sense of purpose, making it clear the Helghast would take by might what they considered theirs by right.
He began by disrupting the flow of essential resources from Helghan to Vekta and the other planets. Low level black market trading was rapidly replaced by the full-scale diversion of energy and materials to the unaligned colonies, once again threatening the security of the star system.
This was accompanied by a massive expansion of the Helghast war machine. Admiral Alex Grey, who represented the ISA at the Peace Commission chaired by Ambassador Sepp Harkin, argued that this could be a show of force to strengthen the Helghast negotiating position. But the failure of these negotiations. combined with Visari's extreme rhetoric and brutal repression of dissent at home, suggests otherwise.
Now as before, the ISA must be vigilant in defense of the freedoms of the entire star system.
Ministry of Information, Vekta City, January 2356
Why We Fight
"These Helghast have big chip on shoulder. But they were treated like shit too. Pah, there's no right or wrong here - just winners and losers."
—Blackjack
This is the other piece of propaganda that tells a bit about why the Helghast and ISA are at war, except it's from the Helghast point of view. You get this bit of intel from interrogating the officer in the control room--the one you have to flush out with the gas grenade.
Blackjack gives the most accurate summation the ISA and Helghast have ever received in any
Killzone game.
Helghast Soldier's Oath Of Allegiance
"My duty to the Emperor. My life for Helghan."
The Helghast soldier carries these truths with him into battle:
- The absolute justice of the Helghast cause
- The superior might of Helghast forces
- The inevitalbility of Helghast victory
He remembers the events that gave birth to our nation and forged our people:
The Great Betrayal, 2200 - 2204
Our forefathers, the original settlers of Vekta, nurtured the planet into a powerful and prosperous home world. But when they sought independence from the oppression of colonial rule, Earth used the forces of the Interplanetary Strategic Alliance [ISA], the military arm of it's imperial control, to crush all resistance.
The ISA seized control of Vekta, and those settlers who were not imprisoned suffered further oppression. In desperation, they sought leave to resettle on the bleak mining world of Helghan.
The Great Exodus, 2204 - 2340
A massive fleet carried millions into exile on Helghan. Many perished but the strongest survived, the bodies of successive generations adapting to the harsh climate and toxic atmosphere. Even so, the wearing of masks was mandatory and became emblematic of our people.
Over more than a century, Helghan became the major producer of energy and minerals for the star system. But Vekta controlled all trade and enjoyed the lion's share of the wealth it created. The people of Helghan were ready for a visionary new leader to show them the way forward.
The Great Leader, 2340 - 2357
Emperor Visari gave the people of Helghan pride in their past and belief in their future. He declared that we are no longer humans: our sufferings on Helghan have forged us into a superior new race, the Helghast. He rebuilt our military, putting an end to Vektan exploitation and declaring that the masters will become the slaves.
"We will take by force what is ours by right. We will prevail. For Helghan."
There are a LOT of weapons in
Mercenary, so I'll be trying to rotate through a bunch in each mission so we can see them all. Over the course of an hour, I also realizes that I cycle through a whole bunch, so surprise! You get a bit of an ammo dump, so to speak. Most of them are returning guns.
VC32 Sniper Rifle
Cost: 10,000V
Ideal for long range covert encounters due to the fitted silencer. Relatively low damage means headshots are required for reliable one-hit-kills.
Semi-auto and silenced. If you want to do a covert stealth run with a sniper rifle, this is what you have to take. It's low damage output kind of sucks, which means you'll HAVE to get headshots if you want to keep a low profile. I'm not a fan of it, partially because I don't have time for such a weak gun. I mean, it's fine. Really, it is. But the other sniper rifles have so much more OOMPH to them! Furthermore, if I'm going to do a stealth run, I'd much rather have the silenced Helghast Assault Rifle. Sure, it doesn't shoot as far, but if I'm doing a stealth run I tend to try and get closer to enemies anyways to get melee kills when I can. In that situation, it's a much better complement. Again, it's fine. Not actually a bad gun. Doesn't fit my play style, though, so you won't see it much.
Dunno why I had it paired with a rocket launcher.
Oh well.
VC9 Rocket Launcher
Cost: 5100V
Single shot laucher firing high damage explosive rockets. Free firing [does not require lock-on].
If you're going to have a rocket launcher, I much prefer the fire and forget type. Great for land armour and infantry. Not so great for moving air targets. Helghast dropship unloading troops? Great. Drones and gunships? Ha, not so much. A solid choice, but as with other explosive weaponry, the VAN-Guard techs often make it obsolete. If you need a VAN-Guard that doesn't blow things up fast, this makes a good complement to your load-out, so there's that.
M194 Frag Grenade
Cost: 3000V
Disperses deadly shrapnel over a wide explosion radius. Can be cooked to shorten fuse time.
The standard ISA frag grenade. Does what it always has. I kind of love that the design has remained consistent throughout the entire series what with the little LED counter on the side. It's good. I like it. I generally take it on my loadouts.
STA-52SE Silenced Assault Rifle
Cost: 9000V
A high rate of fire and large clip size give the advantge when facing multiple targets. Fitted with a silencer and red dot sight.
The classic Helghast assault rifle returns as well. But of all things, it's been fitted with a silencer. As weird as it is, this works out well for the gun. It's a great stealth assault rifle, as oxymoronic as that sounds. The STA-52's range and accuracy have never been good as the ISA's equivalent, neither has it had the same stopping power. It's clip size has always seemed to be it's biggest advantage, especially when they took away the alt-fire in later games. With the silencer, it's all kind of fitting. Solid gun. Great primary when going stealth, though for some maps it's still better to hold onto a sniper rifle.
M2 Tranquilizer Pistol
Cost: 9500V
This non-lethal pistol fires toxin-laced darts. Enemy targets will be incapacitated for a short time, creating opportunities for interrogations.
This gun really only exists to make interrogations easier--which is a good thing! Sometimes it's way too difficult to stealthily clear a room AND sneak up on an officer. It's easier to tranq the officer, massacre the room, then interrogate them for intel before the effect wears off. Plus, the psychological effect of being questioned by a creepy Earth merc in a room full of recently ventilated soldiers has got to be significant, right?
Once you have all of the game's intel, there's really no reason to use this anymore unless a mission objective demands it or if you want to farm up cash faster with mercy kills--though the game is so happy with cash that it's not really necessary.
VC-G11 Gas Grenade
Cost: 6600V
Releases a lethal concoction of cytotoxic and vesicant chemical warfare agents to produce an area of denial gas cloud.
And here we are, we've gotten to the Visari Corporation's grenade and OF COURSE it's a war crime weapon. This is not a smoke grenade, but a "if you inhale enough you will die" grenade. I'm not a fan. Outside of this one use in the first mission for an alternate objective, there's not really much to do with it. I guess it's an area denial kinda thing, but there's not a need for it when there are so many other better weapons.
Nearly every enemy that appears in
Killzone: Mercenary is from a previous game. You'll see a couple of new soldiers and I'll have additional info for those, otherwise you'll get a quick run down on their danger level and best way to deal with them, if it's necessary.
Standard Helghoons
Yer bog standard Helghast. Good at working together to flank you and are very grenade happy--so, your standard Helghast. They're much the same as you remember from previous games. Honestly at this point, I've not much more to say about them.
Helghast Commando
These are the big grouchy-looking shotgun guys. Slightly slower and more armoured than standard Helghoons, they are still weak to bullets and will go down with sustained fire. They're a danger when they get in close, though, so don't let them close the gap.
Helghast Officers
They're the guys we want to torture for that glorious collectible intel. They look kinda like the shock troopers from previous games, complete with the trench coats--only they have much nicer hats. If you're ever stuck trying to find them, they're the ones that look the most like Nazi SS offiers.
No new vehicles have shown up yet! A lot of this is, once again, repeat information, so I'm not going to bombard you with a lot of retreading. I will say that so far we have seen:
ISA Cruisers, Helghast Cruisers, Intruder Dropships, Overlord Dropships, and a Helghast Tank. Except to see more cruisers--they're sort of omnipresent in the background. The Overlords and Intruders will also be a mainstay. Overlords, of course, being what are going to airdrop Helghast troops. Intruders happen to be Phantom Talon Corp's dropship of choice. Hard to say if that's just 'cause Benoit is being bankrolled by the ISA or not. I imagine cost is an issue. It's probably more expensive to buy an Overlord, considering how much more armour they have. Certainly, the open air platform of the Intruder makes for a more exciting trip. That would fit Benoit's cavalier attitude...
Larger shot of final Aaran Danner design.
Alternative Danners.
Danner early designs.
Danner in-game model.
S P O I L E R 
